Beliefnet News

Atheists schedule Bible desecration on famed southern California pier

An atheist group says it will tear pages out of a Bible on southern California’s Huntington Pier.

A Christian preacher who often preaches on the beach noted that they chose not to desecrate a Koran — since Christians forgive those who intentionally offend them.

The “Backyard Skeptics,” a group that has put up pro-atheism billboards throughout California’s Orange County, say they want to point out what they call immoral acts in the Bible, reports Jaimee Lynn Fletcher for the Orange County Register newspaper.

They said they would tear out pages of the Bible at the Huntington Beach pier to point out what they say is immorality in the book upon which Christians base their faith and doctrines.

The Backyard Skeptics declared they would rip out pages with specific passages of the Bible that they say portray immoral biblical law, organizers say. The event will be carried on live, streaming video, they said.

“We’re not there to burn the Bible or desecrate,” said Bruce Gleason, director of the group. “There are plenty verses in the Bible that if you did any of those things today, you’d be thrown in jail immediately.”

Group members said they would rip out verses in the Bible such as Deuteronomy 22: 14-31, which tells those living under the pre-Christian Mosaic law that if a man finds his wife not to be a virgin, the community can stone her; or a later verse in the same chapter the Backyard Skeptics say can be interpreted to say that virgins who are raped will be forced to marry their rapist.

Ray Comfort, who often open-air preaches in Huntington Beach and has an evangelical ministry television show with actor Kirk Cameron, told Fletcher that he and the group’s leader are “friendly enemies” who often discuss religion.

“I would seriously like to supply them with a Koran and maybe something Hindu,” he said. “If he wants to make a statement about God, he should spread it around a little and not pick on Christians.”

Comfort added he believes Backyard Skeptics targets Christianity because Christians are taught to “love their enemies.”

Gleason says the demonstration is based loosely on Thomas Jefferson’s Bible – an 86-page book that omits huge chunks of the New Testament, according the Religion News Service. Jefferson’s Bible, which the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is restoring, chronicles Jesus’ life but leaves out the Resurrection and all miracles the Bible says Jesus performed.

“We want to make this a better world for secular and humanistic values,” Gleason said told the Register‘s Fletcher. “We don’t believe prayer works. We don’t believe religion adds anything except a sense of false hope.”

Wow…. That’s just messed up and wrong. God will have His way in the end. <3

http://AddaURLtothiscomment LJ

Only an atheist would be stupid enough to think tearing the pages from a Bible would have any meaning what-so-ever.
ONLY A FOOL SAYS THERE IS NO GOD!

http://AddaURLtothiscomment Fred

The Gleason Gang is a gang of anti-Christian, anti-Jewish bigots. If they choose not to believe, that’s their choice; but why must they attack those who do?

http://AddaURLtothiscomment Allan

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
–Psalm 14:1.

http://AddaURLtothiscomment Cynthia

Nonbelievers will always misinterpret the Bible.
First, Deuteronomy is an Old Testament chapter and therefore those laws do not stand anymore. In fact, those laws were abolished the moment Jesus died on the cross for us.
Second, it does not say in Deuteronomy that a woman who is raped should marry the rapist. It says the exact opposite. (Deut 22:25-27) It seems they confused it with another verse: Deut 22:28.

http://AddaURLtothiscomment Chris

Christian apologists are always hilarious to see crying in comments.

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor

How sad to spend a life mocking and denigrating something you lack — unlike the majority of your fellow humans.

http://AddaURLtothiscomment Johnny

I hear that God is just quaking in His boots!

Job 38:2-7

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

http://AddaURLtothiscomment MIKE K

I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYBODY SPEND SO MUCH TIME TRYING TO BEAT SOMETHING THEY DON’T BELIEVE EXISTS….KIND OF WOULD BE THE SAME THING IF I SAID I DON’T THINK AIR IS REALLY THERE AND SPEND MY WHOLE DAY SWINGING AT IT TRYING TO BEAT IT UP.IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND WAIT TILL YOU DIE AND TAKE A CHANCE AND SEE.JESUS TOLD OVER 2 THOUSAND YEARS AGO WHAT YOU WOULD SAY TODAY, I THINK I WILL TRUST IN HIM.

http://AddaURLtothiscomment NextVerse

Cynthia, the very next verse says exactly what the atheists are saying.

“28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels[c] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”

How you can you be so blind as not to see the very next verse?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor

And isn’t it fun to play with verses from the old Mosaic law, which have not applied to Christians for 2,000 years?

http://AddaURLtothiscomment NextVerse

Too bad you can’t find two Christian’s on the street that agree on anything. I went to an evangelical school and mosaic law was very real and relevant to them. They believed that all Jesus’s coming did to the law was change the Sabbath from a day to a person (christ, “find your peace in me”). There are over 200 laws in the OT that many evangelicals still believe apply to the modern world so tossing it off like it’s nothing is a cop-out. Your interpretation is that those laws no longer apply but plenty of Christians and Jews would disagree.

Beyond that, if some guy’s dad believed a victim should be forced to marry her rapist, I would think that would warrant more skepticism toward what his kid had to say. Like father like son, especially when the son is the father.

http://AddaURLtothiscomment James

Deut.22:28 is NOT talking about rape. Look at the key words in the previous verses–forces her–she cries out. That is rape. In verse 28, the sex is consensual. The fact that the NIV and other translations use the word “rape” is wrong. It isn’t rape if she did not cry out. The original translations say “lay hold on her” not “force her.” There is a difference between those two phrases. The NIV and other similar versions give a poor translation of the verse. And if she did not cry out or struggle, it means she consented to the sex. Therefore, verse 28 is NOT talking about rape, but consentual sex.

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